Dupuis Talbot Satan= 4th line? wow.

I hope he can play this role. I think he has a lot of pride and and a lot of talent. This might not work out against some of the physical teams, but playoffs are intense, but with far fewer fights. I see Godard playing as much as Laraque did last year. Maybe they Carry 13 forwards at games, maybe keep Adams 13th for the PK. Its nice to have the depth anyways for injuries. I think the Pens can really overwelm teams with their pace and depth. How do you think the Pens will use Satan as well as Godard and Adams, and how do you think Satan will perform???

He's leading the Ahl in  plus/minus he's 25 years old after going the college rout and must be developing a little bit late but is still 5 years away from prime for a Dman. I don't know much about him as he was only called up once. He's an RFA and making $875,000 this year. Can someone who's seen him play more tell me if he's going to be with the Big Pens next year?

      Ray Shero did an excellent job at the deadline by adding alot for very little. + Kunitz +Guerin+ Adams - Whitney -(5th-3rd round pick). And keep in mind there is no salary cap in the playoffs so Satan can com back up and play as long as the 1000 game vet is able to swallow his pride, surely he understands that he was playing well enough to be on the team, just not enough to justify 3.5 million. Shero's pre season acquisitions like satan and loss of grit can be blamed on him, although I do not know who else was availible to pick up for scoring(only Shanahan comes to mind). But it is not this season that worries me.

When you here some people claiming that a team has a window of opportunity to win; it is due to the cap. If you look at any successful team they have some productive players that are not being fairly compensated.                                                  Boston: David Krejci 833,000,Milan Lucic 850 000 Blake Wheeler 2.825m        Detroit :Zetterberg 2.65m Franzen 941,667, Samuelson 1.2m                                    San Jose: Doug Murray 550,000, Devin Setoguchi  1.246m Ryan Clowe 1.6m

Alot of these teams soon will have to compensate these players in full, which is why drafting is so important, because entry level contracts give better bang for your buck then any home town discount. This year Malkin makes 3.834 m, next year he makes 8.7 m, theres almost 5 million less left for other players right there. Jordan Staal this year 2.2 m next year 4 million .

This is why Shero had to trade Whitney because Whitney at 4m or Letang at 835,000 through 2010 is a no brainer. The salary Cap world is sometimes depressing because who wouldnt want to see Kunitz Crosby Gaborik followed by Kovalchuk Malkin Malone and keep Staal and Laraque instead of Godard and all the lines of your wildest dreams but its just not possible. 

Yes you do need to lock up your core and then continually draft well to keep a good team on the ice. For the penguins with 17.4 million going to your top 2 centers next year in a 57 million cap world and maybe less the next year, there is no doubt Pittsburghs 3rd line center has to be cheaper then Staals 4 million and he will be sadly replaced by Prospects Casey Pierre Zabotel(leading whl in scoring) or Keven Veilleux or if they are not ready, look for a cheaper defensive center like a Mike Peca Radek Bonk or Stephane Yelle allcheaper then 1.5 mil. Whoever gets Staal and once he gets to be a top 2 line center like he deserves he will flourish. some say trade Malkin or Crosby but they are untouchable talents that come around once every 5 years. I believe they need to beef up they're top 2 lines and rely on them for scoring because of the synergy effect from great players feeding great goal scorers is how great players should be used, instead of Dupuis or Kennedy who do there job well but should not be expected to do what they are asked to do. A cheaper defensive minded tough 3rd line and a pesky energy 4th line is all that there is left from next years allowance unless a talented prospect steps up.

Championship success will happen when Eric Tangradi and Luca Caputi and Casey Pierre Zabotel come into there own while still being paid entry level money, But in the meantime heres some ideas for some lines which might be impossible to get but would work within the cap. Try to make your own go to NHLSCAP.com which has all cap info for all teams. It's harder then you think frustrating at times but I still think Ray Shero has one of the best jobs in the world.

Armstrong  Crosby   Hejduk          Gonchar  Aucoin                    Fleury
Antropov     Malkin     Caputi           Komisarek Orpik                     Curry
 Cooke        Peca     Artyukhin         Scuderi  Letang
Kennedy   Zigomanis  Hall           Goligoski(wbs callup*no cap hit til callup)                **

(1.2+8.7+3.9+4+8.7+.833          D (5+4+3+3.75+.835+1+)(17.585) G(5.5) T=$55.31m
1.2+1.5+.95+.725+.75+.6)(32.225)F

This one is a bit more realistic because it includes more of their current players:

Hejduk(3.9)Crosby(8.7)Kunitz(3.72)  = 16.325   Gonchar(5)Orpik3.75        Fleury(5)
Antropov (4)Malkin(8.7) Dupuis(1.4)  = 14.1       Eaton(2)Goligoski(1)  Clemensen.75
Kennedy(.725)Talbot(1.05)Cooke(1.2)= 2.975  Letang(.835) Scuderi(1)
Bisonette(.5) Zigoman(.75) Caputi(.833) = 2.083 Gill(2m)
Forwards(35.483)         Dmen:   (5+3.75+2+1+.835+1+1.5)=(15.585)     T =56.818m

I'd love for some posts of some remotely cap realistic pens lines you can come up with. Thanks for reading, 1st Blog of my life